Sleeping Demon
by C.Roxane
Summary: Sometimes a little sleep really can make things all better. (Set late in Season 7, after Giles and Wood try to murder Spike, but before Faith arrives.)


Title: Sleeping Demon

Author: C.Roxane

Website: 

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Sleeping Demon

"Buffy, make him move!" Kennedy demanded arrogantly before they'd even made it through the front door.

Dawn watched as Willow pursed her lips, grimaced, and waved her hands in an attempt to hush the young woman. Evidently, her attempts backfired. The most brazen of all the potentials took two determined steps toward where she and Buffy stood frozen in the doorway.

"Ken-ned-eeeee," Willow whispered warningly as she grabbed for her young lover's arm.

The girl impatiently pulled away from the redhead to better confront Buffy. "He's hogging the big chair, taking up enough room for two." Kennedy literally stamped her foot in rage. "And he refuses to move!" she snarled in the same tone of voice that someone else might use to shout out a warning of an approaching apocalypse.

Buffy had to lean to the side and stretch her neck in order to peer around Kennedy and into the living room; Dawn was tall enough to look right over the annoying brunette's head. The scene that met their eyes did, indeed, look serious.

At least two potentials, Giles, and Anya -- with Xander on the floor at her feet -- had the couch. Andrew was sitting cross-legged on the weapons chest. More potentials sat on chairs they'd commandeered from the dining room and several girls sat on pillows on the floor. It looked as if every available seat in the room was taken -- except for the one next to Spike. 

He was sprawled -- the only time Dawn had ever really seen him sit up straight was when he was securely tied -- in the big chair. His legs were spread disturbingly wide, with one hooked casually over the chair's arm and the other taking up precious space. Despite his seemingly deliberate, chair-hogging pose, there was still nearly a foot of free cushion beside him. The big chair was after all ... big. And comfy. 

And apparently greatly desired by the resident wicca's new girlfriend.

"Movie night?" Buffy asked tiredly as she turned to close the door and hang up her coat.

"Willow hacked into some warez page and downloaded an uncut version of the Matrix Reloaded." Kennedy's voice took on an irritating whine. "And now we don't even have a place to sit."

"Oh," Buffy said, her voice nearly as tired as her eyes. "I see." Then suddenly her expression lightened. "By uncut -- you mean more naked Neo than we saw on the big screen?"

"More naked Trinity," Willow corrected with her old impish smile.

Buffy turned, a bit stiffly since Dawn knew her back was still a mass of bruised and sore muscles, to her. In her older sister's eyes, Dawn recognized the soul-crushing weariness that was so much a part of Buffy these days, but she also saw something else in the hazel depths. A questioning, probing look -- almost as if Buffy was seeking something from her. Buffy lifted a questioning brow and with the insightfulness that only siblings could share, Dawn understood what Buffy was asking. She felt warmth rush through her and Dawn nodded her permission to the older sister that she suddenly felt very close too once again. Buffy flashed her a fleeting look full of love and gratitude before her face once again hardened with grim determination.

Kennedy looked smug and Willow looked embarrassed when Buffy squared her shoulders and walked past them, striding toward the vampire. 

Spike's dark eyes, as usual, had been fixed on Buffy since she'd walked through the door. He tracked her as she approached, eventually having to tilt his bleached head back in order to maintain eye contact when she stopped just inches away. He didn't protest, nor did he resist, when she shoved the leg he had looped over the stuffed arm of the chair back into a more decorous position. In fact, he even obliged by pulling his other leg in slightly, scootching his hips back, and straightening his spine.

Buffy glanced down at his newly formed lap, and with a warning look directed at his carefully bland face, gracefully sat.

"I'll take that," Dawn said as she grabbed a bowl of popcorn from Xander's suddenly numb hands. With a happy smirk, Dawn sat down in the space next to her sister and her sister's vampire. "Someone start the movie," Dawn said happily as she reached for a handful of popcorn. "I want to see some death and destruction."

"Just turn your head," Xander muttered under his breath as he glared at the cozy scene on the big chair.

Kennedy hissed and took a couple outraged steps toward the trio before Willow caught her and whispered words of sense into her ears. The two women eventually managed to find a spot big enough for the both of them on floor next to Xander. With a curious look in Buffy's direction, Willow hit the play button on the remote.

Buffy stubbornly kept her eyes fixed on the television screen, ignoring the fact that the others were paying more attention to her position on Spike's lap than they were the movie. Dawn put up with it for a while, then began giving out dark glowers to anyone she caught staring too openly.

"Kill the lights would you, Rona?" Dawn asked, hoping that a little less light would give Buffy more privacy. 

It didn't exactly work. Whispers and soft giggles could occasionally be heard around the room as the potentials snuck avid peeks at Buffy. Dawn couldn't really blame them. She'd listened to them complain about Buffy's coldness and unfriendliness for weeks now -- she'd even agreed with them most of the time. But they didn't really know Buffy. They'd just seen the hard-as-nails Slayer, not the weary, lonely big sister who'd just _asked_ for Dawn's opinion and permission, before allowing herself the comfort of Spike's presence. Whatever Dawn currently thought of the vampire -- and even she wasn't sure exactly what that was -- she was still thrilled with the fact that Buffy had sought out and _needed_ her approval.

At least the Scoobies were more circumspect, Dawn thought. No giggling or twittering amongst them, but they kept an even sharper eye than the potentials on what was happening on the chair next to her. Dawn was fairly certain that Giles had a stake hidden against the side of his leg.

Eventually, the naked scene came on the screen and drew everyone's attention to Neo and Trinity long enough for Spike to start gently caressing the kinks out of Buffy's back. Dawn was aware of the motion and she clearly heard Buffy's soft sighs of pleasure. Dawn fought back a smile. If anyone needed a good rub down, it was Buffy. By the time Neo's (or Trinity's -- depending on where your interests lay) nude skin had been covered, Buffy had fallen asleep, her cheek pressed against Spike's chest.

Dawn started counting silently to herself and almost made it to twenty before someone noticed the intimate scene in the big chair. Xander choked on the handful of popcorn he'd just shoved into his mouth. He lurched upward and made it halfway to his feet before Giles' hand on his shoulder pressed him back down. 

"If it takes _Spike_," Giles spat the name out distastefully and caressed the wooden stake that he was now making no effort to hide, "to get her to sleep. So be it. Buffy hasn't had any rest for days."

Xander huffed and puffed and then apparently remembered the fact that Spike was now un-chipped. He settled his big body back against Anya's legs. "I guess she'll be okay. Since we're right here watching," Xander warned, pitching his voice to be certain that the vampire would hear.

Spike lifted the hand that had been pressed to the middle of Buffy's back and presented his middle finger.

Dawn giggled.

A half-hour later, during a particularly intense part of the movie, Spike lifted his free arm and tentatively placed it around Dawn's shoulders. She smiled at him and relaxed into his embrace. His answering smile made her heart melt and made her remember how close they'd been at one time.

It wasn't until much later, when the movie was over and Willow had switched the TV set off, that the rest of them heard the sound that had been delighting Dawn ever since Spike had fallen asleep.

A rasping hum. Then silence. Then the raspy sound again.

Scoobies and potentials alike looked at each other in confusion. Some looked fearful. The First? Their expressions seemed to ask.

The deep bass thrum again floated through the room and Dawn couldn't help but grin widely at their confusion.

All heads swiveled toward the big chair where the Summers girls were being cuddled in the loving embrace of the sleeping vampire.

"Is he ... purring?" Amanda asked softly, amazement on her lanky features.

"Of course he's purring," Anya said. "Vampires do that when they're happy." Her usually bright face took on a sour expression. "Xander never purrs," she complained to the room at large.

"Shsssh," whispered Dawn. "You'll wake him up."

Once again Spike and Buffy became the center of attention, but this time Dawn didn't glare at anyone for staring. She was just as curious as they were. Buffy slept peacefully on Spike's lap with one of his arms wrapped around her waist. Her face was nuzzled into his chest, just below his collarbone, while the hollow of his cheek was pressed against the back of her head, burrowed into her hair. One of her hands was cradling the nape of his neck; the other was pressed against his side with the fingers splayed out over his ribs.

They looked so beautiful -- so content -- sleeping together.

"My watcher told me that when a vampire sleeps, its demon leaves and the body becomes just a dead, unanimated corpse," Kennedy said so softly that they could still hear Spike's rumbling purrs beneath her voice. "My watcher was wrong."

Kennedy turned to Giles and her lifted brows demanded an explanation.

"Yes, well," Giles hedged softly as he looked down at the sleeping pair. "That was the common belief for centuries. Spike, however," Giles put the stake he'd been holding for hours back in his jacket pocket. "Spike has shattered a great many of our misconceptions."

Dawn beamed at Giles and wiggled free of Spike's arm. He shifted in his sleep and his purring halted briefly as she got to her feet. He used his free arm to gather Buffy closer and then began to purr even louder when the vampire slayer sleeping on his lap murmured his name.

The room emptied as the potentials, the Scoobies, and Dawn quietly left the lovers alone.

The End.

~*~


End file.
